Notes Off Stage

Music Column — On the meaning of performance and the importance of honest self-awareness Music Column · Essay · To Myself on Stage On Playing Music — and Playing It Truly Well Beyond sound, toward meaning — on a musician's standard and the courage of self-perception May 2026 Music · Performance · Reflection To Myself on Stage What does it mean to play music? Is it the technical act of converting notation into sound — fingers meeting keys, bow meeting string — or is it something far more layered, far more alive? This question has shadowed every musician from the first uncertain lesson to the final bow of a lifetime career. It is not a question with a clean answer. It is, perhaps, the question that keeps us playing. At its most stripped-down, performance is the production of sound. But a performance that stops at sound is not music — it is acoustics. True playing is completed only when a musician's interpretation, emotional presence, and total concentration converge in a single, ...

  Notes Beyond the Score Column · AI & Music Column · On Careers in the Age of AI Why AI Leaves Us Unmoved — The Age of the Human Artist Is Far From Over Reconsidering what it means to live as a musician, in the context of an AI-driven world Bassoonist   ·   Junwon Lee  ·    Notes Beyond the Score · 2026 AI now paints, writes novels, and composes music. The pace of technological change has outrun our predictions, and the landscape of work is being redrawn at speed. In the middle of all this, people are asking the same urgent question: which professions will survive? And can musicians be among them? Jobs That Will Vanish — and Jobs That Will Remain The World Economic Forum and numerous research institutions have published assessments of which professions are most vulnerable to AI displacement. The pattern is consistent: jobs defined by repetition, data-driven judgment, and standardised communication are the first to be automated. Bookkeeping, d...